1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of stoneworking, and more specifically to sawing, shaping and polishing of stone or similar material. Various specific manifestations of the invention include a portable tool mount which is configured to support and guide a saw, an abrading rotary disk tool, or other stoneworking equipment or tools; an edging apparatus for polishing stone edges and edges of other hard materials; and a contour rotary disk abrading tool provided with a member or a holder to facilitate the application of the tool to the workpiece, particularly in inside corners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stoneworking is a very old art, dating back to the days of cave dwellers when man is presumed to have first taken shelter within a stone structure. However, the age of the art should not be confused with the level of technology in use today. The desirability of stone in the modern world for various monuments, markers, countertops and many other applications continues to be great owing to intrinsic hardness and resistance to the elements, a wonderful array of diverse natural and enhanced appearances, temperature resistance, thermal mass, low thermal expansion, and other desirable and unusual features. In addition to natural stone, synthetic or artificial stone, stone-containing materials, or stone-like materials are also being manufactured for desired characteristics. Consequently, much modern technology has been applied to further the provision of stone into the marketplace.
Natural stone is quarried in large blocks from mines and is normally next cut into thinner slabs. These slabs are polished on one surface and then typically sold into commercial or construction applications. Exemplary construction applications, though not by any means all-inclusive, are wall surfaces and decorations for both interior and exterior, trim, fireplaces, flooring, table tops, and counter tops. Rarely will the polished slab have the exact dimensions required for a given project. Consequently, the slab must be cut to fit the application. Depending upon the application, once the slab has been cut, the edge may additionally need to be finished, which may include leveling, shaping and polishing steps. Shaped and polished edges are typically created by grinding the surface with increasingly finer grits of abrasives. The abrasives are normally cooled with a fluid, typically water. As is known in the industry, the cutting, shaping and polishing operations release a large quantity of abrasive in the form of slurry and dust which can be quite detrimental to machines and equipment which are not designed to withstand the erosive environment.
Where large quantities of natural stone or stone-like materials are to be cut and polished, specialized equipment has been designed and constructed which facilitates the cutting and polishing operations. Many of these machines are designed to have enormous mass, which makes the tools much more rigid and also less susceptible to vibration and flexure that may otherwise occur. Most of these machines are further equipped with computer position control, such as through CNC programming or the like. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,552 by Hoglund et al, entitled “Apparatus for improved control of a grinding machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,617 by Bando, entitled “Method for grinding glass plates and the like through numerical control and beveling machine therefor”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,417 by Bando, entitled “Numerically controlled grinding machine for plate glass”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,735 by Schlough et al, entitled “Automated stoneworking system and method”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,621 by Cetrangolo, entitled “Apparatus for automatic layout and cutting corner lines in stone”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,799 by Toniolo, entitled “Automatic device for replacing grinding wheels in machines for profiling and polishing works obtained from slabs of marble, granite stone, glass, stoneware, cement and the like”.
Other machines utilize very specialized technologies, such as extremely high pressure water jets carrying water and abrasive. Most of these machines are also equipped with computer position control, such as through CNC programming or the like. An exemplary U.S. patent, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, is U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,245 by Zanzuri, entitled “Fluid jet cutting system and method”.
While these tools are well suited for operations where stones may be readily transported to the machine, and particularly for higher volume production of identical stone geometries, they clearly have no utility for stones to be worked in situ at a construction location or the like. Furthermore, these machines tend to be extremely expensive, and so custom production on this type of machine results in undesirably large amounts of very expensive idle time. Not only do stones need to be changed for custom production, but the machine will also typically require reconfiguration and/or realignment for the custom job. Furthermore, the transport of a stone to and from a construction site to effect the custom work is not only expensive and the source of much delay, but the likelihood of an accident which destroys the stone is much greater with the additional transport. Finally, these large machines tend to be cost-prohibitive for a smaller shop that is not continuously using the machine.
In an attempt to provide a more portable machine, which may, for example, be used directly at a job site, other artisans have proposed various rail systems which are clamped or otherwise anchored to stone or other hard material, such as concrete or glass. These rails may act as guides, such as in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,014,229 by Emmons, entitled “Portable slab cutting machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,122 by Kelly, entitled “Portable apparatus for shaping glass by abrasion”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,780 by Harris, entitled “Lightweight stone cutting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,122 by Niemczyk, entitled “Cutting guide system for portable power saws”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,225 by Harris, entitled “Lightweight stone cutting apparatus”; the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference, or may alternatively act as a track which supports a trolley or the like. Exemplary trolleys are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,291,058 by Pohl, entitled “Portable machine for cutting marble, ceramics, etc.”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,001 by Bereit, entitled “Hydraulic moving, positioning, and holding mechanism”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,507 by Schuman, entitled “Concrete cutting machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,298 by Stoljarov et al, entitled “Stone-cutting machine with mobile carriage and tiltable saws”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,179 by Destree, entitled “Stone and concrete cutting machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,412 by Anders, entitled “Sawing machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,531 by Biebuyck, entitled “Method employing abrasive tools for the combined cutting and trimming of glass or crystal articles and an apparatus for carrying out the said method”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,026 by Russell, entitled “Precision abrasive saw”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,418 by Holmes et al, entitled “Saw assembly with handle-actuated guide mechanism”; the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference.
A number of artisans have also proposed various apparatus designed to work with a more portable disk-type circular saw blade, and have in many of these cases provided various apparatus for controlling or adjusting the height of the blade relative to the work. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 1,230,696 by Filotico, entitled “Stone cutting machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,311 by Coates, entitled “Track mounted cutter for concrete slabs and the like”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,789 by Konway, entitled “Power driven circular saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,144 by Adams, Jr., entitled “Cutting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,497 by Hiestand et al, entitled “Wall saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,845 by Hiestand et al, entitled “Wall saw assembly”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,125 by Ulsh, entitled “Power saw holder”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,160 by Wilson, entitled “Table saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,459 by Hotchen, entitled “Rotary cutting equipment”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,719 by Ward, entitled “Machine rails and carriages”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,581 by Trentadue, entitled “Adjustable support for cutting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,775 by Hollifield, entitled “Apparatus for precision cutting of concrete surfaces”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,750 by Chiuminatta et al, entitled “Skid plate for concrete saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,420 by Johnson, entitled “Pavement cutting saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,939 by Chiuminatta et al, entitled “Soft concrete saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,371 by Rupprecht et al, entitled “Masonry slitting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,126 by Rupprecht et al, entitled “Masonry slitting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,228 by Watson, entitled “Multi-directional, self-propelled saw for cutting concrete slabs”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,227 by Bearden, entitled “Portable saw with disconnectable platform for cutting concrete for controlling cracks”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,736 by Bearden, entitled “Portable saw with improved disconnectable platform for cutting concrete for controlling cracks”.
For a single cutting operation, many of these devices have found utility in the industry, and rightly so. Providing a guiding edge for an abrasive saw or other cutter such as is used to cut stone and other hard materials is of much benefit for custom applications or the like as are frequently required at a building site. When a section of flooring or wall requires custom cutting and fitting, it is not always practical or reasonable to expect a stone factory to size the stone to the needs in advance. Moreover, it may not always be possible to accurately predict the dimensions owing to variability such as spacing between adjacent stone and the like. Furthermore, the thickness of adjacent stones may vary somewhat unpredictably, and the leveling of the intersection of the two stones may be a very important finishing operation.
Unfortunately, many of these devices are designed for only very light duty. Where guides are used, they tend to lack the necessary resistance to abrasion from the stoneworking dust, and consequently have a limited life only suited for very light duty stone working. These machines also illustrate single tool applications. So, when a stone mason identifies the need for a tool to assist with the guiding of a stone cutting saw, he must purchase a guide for his saw. Later, when he elects to purchase a guide for another stone working tool such as a polisher or an edger, he must then purchase another piece of equipment. This single function tool holding and guiding is not highly desirable, and so many masons will perform all but the most complex or sizeable jobs by hand. As is all too well known, when work is completed by hand, there is much greater risk that the mason will err in the process, and this error is not readily remediated in stone. Consequently, the probability for unsightly imperfections or total loss of valuable stone, and the additional work required to remake a destroyed piece or repair an imperfection provides much incentive in the industry for better tools to reduce the dependence upon hand operations. Additionally, the freehand shaping and polishing is very strenuous and time consuming.
In addition to the limitations aforementioned, another shortcoming of the prior art apparatus is the ability to guide and form inside openings and corners such as are typically found in the installation of a kitchen or bar sink within a stone counter top. In order to cut this type of hole with inside corners, it is most desirable to drop the saw vertically onto the stone to begin the cut in a predetermined place. Where the design of the cutting guide requires the saw to traverse from an end or edge of the stone, such a guide will have no applicability to the holes created for sinks. Moreover, adjacent to the sink the stone will frequently be rather narrow. Where this is the case, in the prior art a reinforcement bar has been inserted into a small groove cut into the stone. The reinforcement bar may then be pressed into the groove and typically adhesively secured therein. However, the cutting of the trough must also occur in the middle of the stone, and in this instance a wider than ordinary cutting blade is most desirable, in order to only require a single passage of the tool through the stone in the formation of the trough.
Most masons currently use a spinning type abrasive to cut a sink hole in a stone countertop. These abrasive cutters come in the shape of circular saw blades and drum shaped router bits. The two types of drum shaped router bits either cut with their abrasive grit on the side (radial) or with their bottom end (axial). A simple method of cutting a sink hole is for a mason to draw a line and use a grinder with a circular blade to follow the line to remove the waste material from the sink hole. There are two types of circular saw blades the mason can employ. First, there is a saw blade that is disc-shaped, like other traditional circular saw blades, that will lay flat on a planar surface. The mason will use this disc-shaped blade to make straight cuts. The second type of circular saw blade is a contour blade that has a concave side and a convex side. This blade will resemble the shape of a coffee cup saucer when laid on a planar surface with the concave side up. The contour blade will cut a much larger saw kerf than the thickness of the blade, which requires more power and consumes more abrasive. However, this blade shape also allows the mason to make a radius or curved cut. This contour blade was designed so that the concave side of the blade was normal to the inside radius of the cut. The blade can be mounted on a portable saw or angle grinder. The saw kerf from a concave blade on a portable saw with a horizontal shaft will leave a vertical profile on the waste side of the sink hole and create a bevel on the finished side of the countertop. Therefore the mason will use a drum type abrasive wheel to grind the bevel away to make the finished side of the stone's edge vertical. With the concave blade on an angle grinder the mason can hold the grinder at any angle to minimize the bevel on the finished side of the countertop. The mason will need to change their position to maintain a view of the cut line for each side of the sink hole and control the saw blade from over cutting or binding while keeping the cutting portion of blade vertical. This is much to accomplish and is prone for error. This is why a mason will position the blade a short distance from the waste side of the cut line. After the waste material of the sink hole is removed, they will use the drum type abrasives to grind the remaining waste material to the cut line. This freehand method will take great skill and can be very time consuming for the mason.
Another method for removing the waste material from a sink hole is for the mason to follow a template using a drum-shaped abrasive cutter called a finger bit. This finger bit is mounted on a router-type spindle motor with the shaft perpendicular to the stone surface. This spindle motor will follow the template either by utilizing a bearing or bushing attached directly to the spindle housing or using a bearing or bushing on the spindle shaft that is spinning the finger bit. The finger bits for the manual method will either cut the stone in one pass or multiple passes called incremental step cutting. The one pass method will cut the full thickness of the stone by utilizing the abrasive material on the side of the finger bit. This method will require the mason to push or pull the finger bit with great force through the stone. The incremental step cutting method will cut the stone by utilizing the bottom of the finger bit. This method will use the weight of the spindle and the force from a leadscrew to create the pressure to grind the kerf. With incremental step cutting, the finger bit is lowered into the stone with each pass around the template. This method can have an undesirable result when this groove gets deeper and less stone is available to support the down pressure. This down pressure will cause the finger bit to eventually break through the thin stone and create chips or voids on the finish side of the countertop.
Both styles of finger bits will need to have a diameter that will allow for enough abrasive material to have the proper surface speed to abrade the stone material and to have sufficient longevity to accomplish the job. The diameter of these finger bits will cut a much larger kerf than a saw blade and therefore require a larger spindle motor and more time to remove this extra waste material. Because of the nature of hard materials like stone, the mason who employs a finger bit to manually cut the stone will either need to use great force to pull the finger bit through the stone in one pass or spend substantial time and energy to incrementally step cut the stone by making 20 to 40 passes depending on the stone's thickness. The manual method of using a template allows the operator to remove the waste material of the sink hole in a method that is very consistent and error free. After the waste material is removed, the mason will grind back any areas where the finger bit paused leaving a slight gouge or in the case of incremental step cutting, removing the horizontal lines left by step cutting. This method of using a finger bit to follow a template gives the mason great control and requires much less skill. The disadvantage of using this method is the wide kerf creating the need to use a large spindle motor spinning and more rapidly consuming an expensive finger bit. Some exemplary U.S. patents and published patent applications illustrating finger bits and their use thereof, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,963 by Tsur, entitled “Flush-mount sink assembly method”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,229,342 by York, entitled “Stone cutting system and method”; and 2008/0153399 by York, entitled “Stone cutting system and method”.
As may be appreciated, there are many different styles and sizes of sinks utilized in the stone industry. Each model sink will have a specific shape that the manufacturer will recommend for the countertop cut out. These countertop cut outs will have straight areas and curved areas such a commonly found in a kitchen style sink. For bathroom style lavatories, the shape can commonly be a continuous curve like in a round or oval shape. While many masons rely entirely upon finger bits to cut these diverse openings, since finger bits are able to cut any geometry, it should be apparent that these bits cut a much wider kerf than a disc-shaped circular blade and so are slower and consume more energy and abrasive when cutting straight lines.
Several additional U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 597,542 by Lorch, entitled “Polishing machine”, which illustrates an adjustable polishing machine; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,866 by Tsao, entitled “Stone cutter” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,936 by Zagorouiko, entitled “Portable finishing apparatus for hard material”, each which illustrate commercially available drive motors similar to that proposed in several of the present embodiments.
A number of additional U.S. patents and published applications illustrate various working tools, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, including U.S. Pat. No. 136,432 by Gear, entitled “Machine for turning stone”; U.S. Pat. No. 561,367 by Badger, entitled “Method of and apparatus for dressing stone”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,971,297 by Donaldson, entitled “Shaping machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,020,709 by Walter, entitled “Grinding machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,075,369 by Stetler, entitled “Marble refacing machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,318,050 by Boynton, entitled “Cutting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,871 by Le Clercq, entitled “Means and method of grinding polygonal articles”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,818,683 by Nieman et al, entitled “Glassware lathe”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,530 by Lamb, entitled “Guide for portable saw”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,713 by Schuman, entitled “Concrete saw guide and method of use thereof”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,658 by Daiuta, entitled “Mobile oscillating spot grinder with pressure control means to produce a feathering effect”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,280 by Clancy, entitled “Table rail”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,245 by Bieri, entitled “Concrete cutting or milling apparatus including a guide rail”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,494 by Johnsen, entitled “Device for mounting a rail or the like on a surface”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,252 by Holmes et al, entitled “Chain saw cutting assembly”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,372 by Avila et al, entitled “Precision radial arm saw for composite materials”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,061 by Bradbury et al, entitled “Guide for hand-held power tools”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,157 by Bieri, entitled “Guide and support structure for surface cutting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,999 by Stone, entitled “Saw guide and surface protector”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,314 by Braunbach et al, entitled “Hand power tool”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,690 by Ogyu, entitled “Apparatus for cutting a stone member so as to have a curved surface”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,453 by Caven et al, entitled “Precision slot cutting machine for concrete and asphalt”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,103 by Saccon, entitled “Stone tile finishing system”; and 20110016720 by Plaskett, entitled “Rotary stone cutting tool and method”.
The present inventor, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,061 by Kalb, entitled “Portable apparatus for working, shaping and polishing stone and other hard materials”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,175 by Kalb, entitled “Portable apparatus for working, shaping and polishing stone and other hard materials”, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses several portable tools, carriages and tracks that overcome many of the prior art deficiencies. Nevertheless, these apparatus fail to provide a fast and economical method and apparatus for forming a sink opening in stone.
What is desired then is a portable apparatus which enables a stone mason or worker of other hard material to purchase suitable apparatus which will perform the precise guiding of diverse tools across the hard material while allowing a mason at a job site to form precise inside holes, shapes and polished surfaces such as are found in the formation of a sink hole.
In addition to the foregoing documents, Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.